Posted by Thomas Cook on October 5, 2011 2:54 pm

The Stress Of Selling Privately Is Not Worth The Potential Savings – Thomas

Here’s The Story As Told By Natalie Their Agent…

I met Tom originally after he attended one of our Home Buyer Workshops back in 2005. He was a first time home buyer at the time and excited to get into the market! After some hunting, we found a great loft in King West for him. Shortly after he moved in he was transferred out of the city for work but the condo proved a savvy investment and was easily rented!

A few years later, back in Toronto and now married, it was time to let the condo go and focus on building his dream family home!

I’m sure you’ve heard all of the hype over the past year about the Competition Bureau stepping in and the new rules that were passed that homeowners can now pay a flat fee real estate company to post their home on MLS with the owner having to take care of the sale themselves.

The theoretical benefit is the savings in the commissions they would have to usually pay a listing Realtor. The problem with this is that posting the property is the ONLY thing they do… and, as Tom and Sabrina found out, selling real estate isn’t quite as easy as it looks… especially if you have a full time job to attend to!

After listing for almost a month with one of those do-nothing-except-put-you-on-MLS companies, it became clear that maybe this approach wasn’t going to give them the results they were hoping for!

Tom then called me and in we swooped… I did all of our market analysis homework and started our marketing program right away. Within 3 days we had an accepted offer!

Best of all… it was at a price that was HIGHER than what it was originally listed at before – a big WIN WIN!!!!

Here’s The Story As Told By Thomas The Condo Seller…

Dear Natalie,

I am writing to thank you for your help in selling my condo. My wife and I had been trying for many weeks to sell it privately, with the hope that we might save a bundle in commissions. However, we were having a very difficult time.

Whether it was scheduling multiple viewings each day, fielding numerous phone calls coming from other agents and buyers, or having to convince potential buyers that it was priced very well and what a steal it was, we found ourselves to be stretched thin and worn out each day.

Unfortunately we did this for many weeks with no success, and trying to manage the private sale of a property while holding down a full-time job is no easy task.

Finally we decided to list with you, mainly because you have earned my trust over the years, but also since the stress of selling privately wasn’t turning out to be worth the savings.

I was thrilled to find out that within a few days of listing with you, we had an offer and the deal was done. Further, the closing price was actually above the asking price that we had listed privately.

It’s odd to think that a condo could be listed for almost a month and not sell, and then to relist through an agent at a higher price and sell within a few days, but that’s how it worked out.

I certainly plan to use you as my agent going forward, since the stress of selling privately is not worth the potential savings. Thanks again!

Warm regards,

Thomas C